17th Oct, 2024 11:00
TWO-DAY AUCTION: Fine Asian Art, Buddhism and Hinduism
17
A RARE TIBETAN GILT-BRONZE FRAGMENT WITH EIGHT HEADS OF AVALOKITESHVARA SAHASRABHUJA EKADASAMUKHA, 16TH CENTURY
Sold for €7,800
including Buyer's Premium
Central Tibet. Finely cast as the top eight heads of the eleven headed Avalokiteshvara, with two rows of three heads each with serenely smiling expressions framed by floral earrings and blue curled locks peeking out from a foliate crown, surmounted by the wrathful face of Mahakala with bulging eyes below thick bushy eyebrows and red flaming hair topped by a small head of Buddha Amitabha.
Provenance: E & J Frankel, New York, 1989. Collection of Richard Roland, New York, acquired from the above and thence by descent. The base of the stand with a label printed ‘February 2006’ and inscribed, ‘Tibet, 22 cm, 8 heads of Avalokiteshvara, part of large 9 headed Avalokites. figure partly gilded & painted’. A copy of a signed receipt from E & J Frankel Ltd., dated 23 June 1989, addressed to Richard Roland and describing the present lot as ‘Bronze 11 headed Guanyin’, accompanies this lot. E & J Frankel was a major New York gallery specializing in Asian Art since 1967. Run by Edith (1939-2012) and Joel Frankel (1937-2018), it was one of the oldest galleries in the United States focusing exclusively on Asian art. Leaders in their field, the Frankels traveled the world in search of Asian art treasures and educated the general public about their shared passion. Their gallery on Madison Avenue in New York City became a local institution, best known for its regular schedule of innovative thematic exhibitions, and frequently visited by the biggest names in the field, such as Eskenazi, Ellsworth, Junkunc, and the Alsdorfs.
Condition: Expected old wear, the tiaras bent, the inlays lost, flaking to gilt, losses to pigments, nicks, scratches, minor losses, casting flaws.
Weight: 1,3 kg (excl. stand), 1.9 kg (incl. stand)
Dimensions: Height 22 cm (excl. stand), 27.6 cm (incl. stand)
Mounted to a modern metal stand. (2)
The sculpture depicts Avalokiteshvara Sahasrabhuja Ekadasamukha, the All Seeing, All Sided Lord with One Thousand Hands and Eleven Faces, who looks in every direction to save all creatures. Since the first Dharma King of the Yarlung Dynasty, Songtsen Gampo (604-50), Avalokiteshvara has been the primary tutelary deity of Tibet, incarnating spiritual and political rule. Here he appears in his supreme cosmic form expressing his infinite capacity with a multitude of heads. Despite the popularity and central status of Avalokitesvara, very few examples in the form of Sahasrabhujalokeshvara Ekadasamukha are extant.
Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related gilt copper alloy figure of the eleven headed Avalokiteshvara, central Tibet, dated to the 16th century, in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, accession number M.86.220.2.
Central Tibet. Finely cast as the top eight heads of the eleven headed Avalokiteshvara, with two rows of three heads each with serenely smiling expressions framed by floral earrings and blue curled locks peeking out from a foliate crown, surmounted by the wrathful face of Mahakala with bulging eyes below thick bushy eyebrows and red flaming hair topped by a small head of Buddha Amitabha.
Provenance: E & J Frankel, New York, 1989. Collection of Richard Roland, New York, acquired from the above and thence by descent. The base of the stand with a label printed ‘February 2006’ and inscribed, ‘Tibet, 22 cm, 8 heads of Avalokiteshvara, part of large 9 headed Avalokites. figure partly gilded & painted’. A copy of a signed receipt from E & J Frankel Ltd., dated 23 June 1989, addressed to Richard Roland and describing the present lot as ‘Bronze 11 headed Guanyin’, accompanies this lot. E & J Frankel was a major New York gallery specializing in Asian Art since 1967. Run by Edith (1939-2012) and Joel Frankel (1937-2018), it was one of the oldest galleries in the United States focusing exclusively on Asian art. Leaders in their field, the Frankels traveled the world in search of Asian art treasures and educated the general public about their shared passion. Their gallery on Madison Avenue in New York City became a local institution, best known for its regular schedule of innovative thematic exhibitions, and frequently visited by the biggest names in the field, such as Eskenazi, Ellsworth, Junkunc, and the Alsdorfs.
Condition: Expected old wear, the tiaras bent, the inlays lost, flaking to gilt, losses to pigments, nicks, scratches, minor losses, casting flaws.
Weight: 1,3 kg (excl. stand), 1.9 kg (incl. stand)
Dimensions: Height 22 cm (excl. stand), 27.6 cm (incl. stand)
Mounted to a modern metal stand. (2)
The sculpture depicts Avalokiteshvara Sahasrabhuja Ekadasamukha, the All Seeing, All Sided Lord with One Thousand Hands and Eleven Faces, who looks in every direction to save all creatures. Since the first Dharma King of the Yarlung Dynasty, Songtsen Gampo (604-50), Avalokiteshvara has been the primary tutelary deity of Tibet, incarnating spiritual and political rule. Here he appears in his supreme cosmic form expressing his infinite capacity with a multitude of heads. Despite the popularity and central status of Avalokitesvara, very few examples in the form of Sahasrabhujalokeshvara Ekadasamukha are extant.
Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related gilt copper alloy figure of the eleven headed Avalokiteshvara, central Tibet, dated to the 16th century, in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, accession number M.86.220.2.
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